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FLORIDA 

An Ideal Cattle State 



Copyrighted 1918 by 

THE FLORIDA STATE UVE STOCK ASSOCL\TION 

P.O. Box 1181 

Jacksonville, Florida 






^^\^^ -2 (318 g) 



GI,A4 92 4Jl 



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Foreword 



By W. F. Blackman, Ph.D., LL.D. 

President of the Florida State Live Stock Association, Member 
of the Florida State Live Stock Sanitary Board. 

Requests for authentic information as to the advantages 
and possibilities of Florida for the growing of live stock, and 
in particular of beef cattle, have been coming of late, and in 
constantly increasing numbers, from all parts of the country. 

This booklet has been compiled for the purpose of pro- 
viding this information. 

The gentlemen who have contributed to the volume are 
men of ability, long and successful experience in the live stock 
and kindred industries, and the most trustworthy character. 
Several of them have been engaged for many years in the 
growing and marketing of cattle on a very large scale in 
Texas, and have recently made a prolonged and close study 
of Florida conditions. The report of their findings is of the 
utmost interest. 

Prof. C. V. Piper, agrostologist of the Bureau of Plant 
Industry, Department of Agriculture, Washington, is recog- 
nized as the foremost authority on Southern grasses and forage 
crops. We are indebted to him for permission to make use 
of the valuable address on this important subject which was 
made by him at the recent annual meeting of the Florida 
State Live Stock Association. 

A study of these papers will make it evident, I believe, 
that Florida possesses a number of advantages for the profit- 
able growing of live stock greater than those to be found 
elsewhere; among these are a mild, equable and healthful cli- 
mate, comparative freedom from animal diseases, a long graz- 
ing season, vast areas of cheap lands, a soil adapted to the 
growing of numerous improved grasses and forage crops 
(especially such legumes as the velvet bean, the cow pea, the 
soy bean, the vetches, the indigenous beggar-weed, the pea- 
nut, and certain clovers), a copious and well-distributed rain- 
fall, and countless springs, streams and lakes, providing 
almost everywhere an abundant and unfailing supply of pure 
water. 

There can be no doubt, I believe, that Florida will take 
a leading place in the near future among the important live 
stock states of the Union. What she needs is additional thou- 
sands of intelligent, energetic, thrifty and experienced farmers, 
who will take advantage of the opportunities she offers and 
develop to the full her immense and latent resources. 

Lake Monroe, February, 1918. 



POSSIBILITIES OF BEEF PRODUCTION IN FLORIDA. 



By Frank S. Hastings, Manager of the S. M, S. Ranch, Stam- 
ford, Texas, who spent two weeks studying conditions in 
Florida just previous to the Sixth Annuul Convention of 
the Florida State Ldve Stock Association, at which he was 
one of the speakers. These impressions have been pre- 
pared by Mr. Hastings for the benefit of the cattle men of 
Florida. 

Before coming to the State I asked that I might see as 
many classes of cattle as possible and in as many different 
parts of the State as possible. 

My first trip was through the Everglades. I then made a 
trip near Gainesville, and visited the registered Hereford herd 
owned by Mr. N. A. Callison ; also the grade herd of both Here- 
fords and Shorthorns owned by Mr. A. L. Jackson of Gaines- 
ville, and the pure-bred and graded Shorthorn herd owned by 
Mr. S. H. Gaitskill of Mcintosh. Then followed a four days' 
careful trip over the properties and herd of the Kissimmee 
Island Cattle Company, where I saw Brahma cattle, Hereford 
cattle and Shorthorn cattle in various grades, and their herd 
of Florida cattle bought last year. Then over the Indian 
Prairie country, the Osceola prairie country, including Hal- 
patioka Flats, the marsh country of Okeechobee, with an un- 
usually good opportunity for seeing the cattle scattered over 
the open range and to observe conditions on the open range. 

Incident to this great expanse, comprehending over six 
hundred miles in actual auto driving, I did not see a single 
windmill, or other artificial means of furnishing water, al- 
though I am told that on not a single acre of that entire prop- 
erty is there any difficulty in finding water at a depth of from 
ten to fifty feet. I shall come back to this item, only pausing 
here to call your especial attention to the fact that over this 
vast area of undeveloped water conditions, water can be sup- 
plied at a very small cost sufficient to increase the carrying 
capacity of the range at least several hundred per cent, and 
as against developing a similar water supply over the average 
Texas pasture country, it can be done at twenty-five per cent 
of the cost in Florida as against the Texas cost. 

Probably the most important thing that I saw in Florida 
was the registered Hereford herd of Mr. Callison. I recall that 
he boasted that in eight years they had never been given any 
winter help, and there were no evidences on his property that 
the cattle were in any way pampered. 

He had about thirty or forty of last spring's calves, which 
he was just weaning, and they were as good, on the average, as 
any bunch of calves I have ever seen in the great registered 
Hereford producing districts. I saw his yearlings and twos 



and his cows, and the entire herd shows in general development 
and quality a very favorable comparison with anything in the 
great breeding districts outside of distinct show herds. 

If the climate of Florida can produce these registered 
cattle without help and have them make a favorable compari- 
son with cattle in the great registered breeding grounds of 
other parts of America, there is no reason why beef cattle can 
not be produced which, in turn, will form a favorable compari- 
son with those of the great pasture breeding grounds, which, 
in turn, are furnishing the feeder cattle for the corn belt. 

On Mr. Jackson's place we found both graded Herefords 
and Shorthorns in the third generation, with splendid develop- 
ment and quality, and we found in his registered or pure-bred 
herd of Shorthorns good quality and development. 

At the home of Mr. Gaitskill we found both pure breds 
and grades of good development, and a splendid object lesson 
in a half-bred cow known as "Old Blue," her dam one of the 
primitive Florida cows and her sire a pure-bred Shorthorn 
bull. She is what might be called a blue roan, with the blue 
almost black. Then we saw her daughters and their daugh- 
ters, and I think we saw a fourth generation, but either in this 
third or fourth generation, 1 remarked to Mr. Gaitskill that he 
could lie a little about that heifer, as she had absolutely every 
appearance and all development of an absolutely pure-bred 
Shorthorn. 

In this same district we learned from Mr. Jackson that 
graded cattle all the way from half-breeds up to seven-eighths 
and in the mixed threes and fours ages, all by registered bulls, 
weighed 900 pounds off grass last fall. As near as I can obtain 
information, the same ages in the native Florida steers and 
under most favorable conditions would probably not weigh to 
exceed 600 pounds. 

On this same trip Mr. Edwards of Mcintosh told me that 
he got about half the gain on the native steers that he does 
from three-quarter-bred grades, on the same feed. 

The foregoing is a practical demonstration that as far as 
climate, general feeds and ordinary norma; conditions are con- 
cerned, graded cattle thrive in Florida. 

It is important that I should have seen them, because I am 
working on well defined and demonstrated general principles 
of breeding and beef production, and they respond in every 
way to the foregoing. 

From this time on we must reckon with the world's supply 
of live stock. Without attempting to go into details, there has 
been a very material decrease in it during the past ten years. 
We know that Europe must be re-stocked after the war, and 
that the American supply is freer from disease than that of any 
other country. 

We know that under normal conditions the beef produc- 
tion of America has not kept pace with the population, and 

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that even without the influence of war values of beef, stock 
cattle values have shown a steady increase for the past ten 
years. There is, therefore, every reason to believe that for a 
very long period in the future, even taking into consideration 
reduced beef consumption as the result of substitutes or every 
other influence, there is a reasonable expectation for strong 
values and a profit on production under normal expense. I 
think that we may go beyond the favorable general market and 
say that there will be a better market in proportion for the 
intermediate grades of beef, for grass produced beef, than for 
the very extreme corn-fed finish, and that in the evolution of 
the Florida beef problem, the grades produced will at least be 
in as great demand, and probably greater demand, than the 
ultra finished class. 

It is, therefore, fair to argue that the market is with the 
producer. 

You are singularly fortunate in having a Legislature 
which seems in every way disposed toward doing everything 
in its power to help develop the resources of the State. 

The Government believes that live stock production is its 
second greatest problem, and in every possible way that it can 
give co-operation is pledged to do so. In fact, I do not think 
that I would have been here at all unless a high official in the 
Bureau of Animal Industry had not urged me to come, in line 
with their work of general development throughout the South. 

Another thing, I find that Florida is very much in the pub- 
lic eye, and that all the live stock journals are anxious to have 
anything which touches upon increased beef production any- 
where, but in the South particularly. 

With the knowledge that I might be here some time this 
winter, I talked to two of the great packers about the develop- 
ment of the beef industry in the South, and they both said that 
they thought the South was going to come to the front very 
rapidly, and that either they or some one else would undoubt- 
edly keep pace with the development by enlarging their present 
facilities or building new packing houses. 

In that connection a packer loves a hog country to work in 
conjunction with cattle. Without giving the topic any more 
than this general statement, I can see where hog production 
is going to be one of the great things in Florida, and that while 
in Texas we do not attempt to produce any hogs along with our 
cattle, that hogs will be to some extent a part of the great pas- 
ture problems. 

In a general way, conditions are very similar in Florida 
now to those of some thirty-five years ago in Texas, at which 
time that State was an open range proposition. Today, with 
the exception of a very small strip along the Gulf Coast, the 
entire State of Texas is under fence, and in a general way has 
been under fence for nearly twenty years. 

There has never been a time in the State of Texas in the 



past twenty years when practically all of the grazing area of 
the State has not been occupied, and as against the cattle car- 
ried on the open range with practically no water development, 
the pastures of Texas, which are known as the range (but the 
word range in Texas means large bodies of inclosed land), are 
carrying several hundred per cent more cattle than at that 
time. 

The thing which in Texas led to great hardships alike to 
the large pasture owner and to the settler himself was the 
fact that so much of the land did not lie in solid bodies. I judge 
that in the main there is much less of this in Florida than in 
Texas, and that either by partition, or purchase, or auxiliary 
lease, the great bulk of that complication can be handled. 

And that brings me to the principle of fencing, which I 
think may be covered under the general heading of Control. 
First, it means defined ownership, which is always recognized. 
It means fire control, because it eliminates the wantonness 
which we now find all over your open range, each man working 
out his problem and firing the range for various causes. 

Fencing means that an area may be developed to its ca- 
pacity. For instance, on your ranges fire kills the various vari- 
eties of the carpet or blanket grass and kills the little blue cane, 
as well as any number of other grasses, all of which, however, 
come back where an area is protected, and as they are among 
your very best feeds, the carrying capacity of a pasture is ma- 
terially increased. 

Water may be developed through the windmill process 
directly in proportion with the needs of the cattle and concen- 
trated to them as against any water development on the open 
range. 

It is a scientific fact that eradication of the tick may be 
accomplished by resting a pasture for a certain time. Fencing 
means the concentration of that area to the best bulls as 
against not only their mixture with the scrub bulls on the open 
range, but the fact that the old Spanish fighting blood in the 
scrub bull materially reduces the effectiveness of the higher 
class bull. Fencing means that if on any favorable areas you 
wish to introduce any of the wonderful grasses which the De- 
partment of Agriculture is showing can be spread very rapidly, 
it can be done concentrating to ownership. 

Fencing means that lands which are now being occupied 
by some one else without revenue, but at an expense, may be 
made to either pay a fair interest on the investment of land, 
improvements and cattle, or at least a rental revenue which 
will take care of taxes, interest on improvements and become 
a net economy, as against the open range. 

I believe, too. that the principle will stand that a property 
defined by fences immediately takes on increased value; that 
the buyer would pay more for it per acre defined than looking 
at it in the abstract as part of the open range. 



I do not think that in the whole State of Texas you will 
find a single land owner, who has fenced his ranches, who 
does not know that it has been done at a splendid profit. 

You begin your problem with a tick-wide eradication law, 
which Texas has only had a very short time. You begin it at a 
time when the Government and most of the tick-infested states 
are releasing thousands of square miles every year, and at a 
time when both science and every practical observer under- 
stands it as an economic measure, which may be pursued with 
practically no detriment or danger to the cattle. I think that 
we probably dipped in the neighborhood of a million cattle, 
considering the number of times that they were dipped, and we 
did not lose a total of fifty head from all causes. 

Eradication means larger cattle in better condition on the 
same feeds and a less mortality. It means that they can go 
anywhere in America without restriction ; or, in other words, a 
broader market and no punishment just before shipment. I 
do not think that the perpetuity of the tick can be defended 
from any economic standpoint. 

I want to take up the breeding section, first with reference 
to what your cattle represent and a comparison with primitive 
cattle in other countries. I am advised on reliable authority 
that forty years ago the only ready money in this country came 
from the cattle men who either topped their bulls and took 
them to Cuba, or the Cubans came here and topped them, tak- 
ing the very best sires that you produced for sport and slaugh- 
ter. You have, therefore, for forty years been grading down, 
as far as the sire is concerned. 

In the matter of the cows, there has been no culling, added 
to which there has been in-breeding, and on both the sire and 
dam side following out the law that evil qualities intensify in 
posterity, the tendency has been down instead of up in the 
breeding of native cattle for forty years, to which the only 
relief has been a very limited introduction of the beef strains. 

In addition to this, the cattle have been infested with ticks, 
and every evil influence that could arrest their development 
seems to have had a good chance at them, and yet in spite of all 
this I find them on the whole much better than I had expected. 

I have been trying to make a comparison between them 
and the primitive cattle of Texas, which I have known for fifty 
years, as they were pastured next to my father's farm in great 
quantities when I was only seven years old and long before 
there was any process of improvement. I think the Texas 
cattle had greater scale, but from all I can learn I do not be- 
lieve they had any greater vitality. I think, on the whole, 
though, that in evolving a race of cattle you have a little fur- 
ther to go than Texas had. 

Mr. Alvin Sanders, Editor of the Breeders' Gazette, in his 
book, "The Story of the Herefords," traces very carefully the 

—9— 



first introduction of blooded bulls to the Texas and Western 
ranges, and forty years, certainly forty-five, is as far back as 
that influence began. My own people began on primitive Texas 
cattle in 1882, but from that time used only full-blooded sires, 
about ninety per cent Hereford and about ten per cent Short- 
horn, and ordy about three years after I went with them 
sixteen years ago, I took selected calves from their herd to 
Chicago and won grand sweepstakes for feeder cattle with 
tiiem against all competition from all sections of the United 
States. When I went to the S. M. S. herd I found a wonderful 
lot of breeding cows, the bulk of them at least fifteen-sixteenths 
and only requiring a vigorous culling process to bring them to 
a remarkably high standard. 

I was identified with Mr. Kirk Armour during the great 
progress in grading up Texas herds in the '90's, and it was 
noticeable in the stock yards that in a short space of about six 
years there was an absolute change in the general run of cattle 
from the ranges to the yards from primitive cattle to cattle 
showing very appreciable improvement, and in twelve years 
the long-horn had become a scarcity ; he was practically extinct 
in 1900. 

Argentina during the same period evolved from a primi- 
tive race of cattle one which will compare very favorably to 
that of America in its up-grading. The other South American 
Republics have been slower, but between Argentina and Amer- 
ica two demonstrations have been given within my own life- 
time of a race of cattle absolutely redeemed from the primitive 
to practically full-bloods, and that the first twelve years of that 
work has resulted in animals showing fifty per cent increase 
in weight under the same conditions, a much higher degree of 
meat in the rib and loin and round, with an immense improve- 
ment in their instinct for putting on weight on the same feed 
over the primitive cattle. 

I am simply taking these generally demonstrated laws of 
breeding to apply to your conditions. I am sure that by using 
good sires you will find an immense improvement in three 
years; that in six years it will be a revelation, and that in 
twelve years you will have a race of cattle for which the world 
will make a path to your door. 

To arrive at this process I must first disclaim any thought 
of urging any particular breed upon you. On the other hand, 
I could not be fair to the problem without calling your atten- 
tion to the fact that the Hereford has been the redeemer of the 
great Western ranges. I am sure, however, that the greater 
the degree of purity that you use in him, up to at least a seven- 
eighths, will be shown in the result. 

I find that there is some prejudice against the Hereford 
in Florida, but as far as I can follow it they apparently got a 
very low grade of bulls — I am inclined to think not over half- 

—10— 



breeds, and then, too, they found they didn't get any more at 
that time for the better grades than they did for the others. 

The limitation of the Hereford is that in the first cross 
between a pure-bred and any of the primitive cattle ninety 
per cent will show white faces or dominant characteristics, 
and just so in the use of bulls, the animal may not have the in- 
tensification of blood that he should have simply because he has 
a white face, and the bull peddler has, as a proposition, bought 
something that he could sell at a profit, rather than in following 
out any visions of cattle improvement. 

I can not urge you too strongly to know absolutely the 
breeding strength of anything you buy, and that means in a 
general way that you must buy known cattle. I realize, too, 
that there is a great shortage of bulls, and probably the only 
way that you can get what you want, because it goes without 
saying that you can not afford to pay the price for registered 
bulls in all your work, is to work in some way through a central 
community of interests, go to Texas and buy the bull calf crop 
of some herd of cattle that will show fifteen-sixteenths or better 
breeding. I urge this freely, because you must go below the line 
and none of our own cattle are available. I believe that if you 
bring these calves over here, say in November at weaning time, 
at the age of about six months, and give them some good winter 
help, that they will acclimate quickly, and will give you very 
fair returns in the yearling period, although, of course, you 
can not expect from them a real usefulness until the two-year- 
old period. 

While the Hereford has been the redeemer of the ranges, 
practically every ranch man in Texas has felt that an under- 
current of Shorthorn is of the greatest advantage. We have 
used it persistently in our own work, and feel that it has given 
a most appreciable contribution to the weight and general 
quality of our cattle. 

In the last few years the Brahma cattle have come into 
prominence, and every investigation that I have made shows 
that they will undoubtedly prove a great factor in the evolution 
of Florida cattle. They seem to be immune to most of the pests 
and do not require as much in the way of acclimatization. They 
show a wonderful growth in yearlings and they mark their 
progeny with size and distinct characteristics in a most decided 
way. The packers seem to like them; they kill out a large 
per cent of beef, and while I have never had any experience 
with them, all my observation has been in their favor, and I 
urge you to go as far as you can in utilizing them in Florida. 

I am, however, convinced that you are going to need both 
the Shorthorn and the Hereford to combine with them. I am 
also convinced that both the Shorthorns and the Black cattle 
are going to prove very valuable adjuncts in your eventual 
work in the State, particularly as applied to small areas where 
the cattle are not asked to live as much upon their own re- 

—11— 



sources. The experience, however, in Texas has been that the 
calf crop is not as great from either of these breeds as from 
the Herefords. 

For your information, on the S. M. S. Ranch we have aver- 
aged better than eighty percent calf crop for the last ten years. 
I think that perhaps you will find the Brahma cattle even more 
prolific than the Herefords. I think, too, that in every possible 
way you should encourage the breeders of full-blood cattle 
in all of these breeds, and that you give them every encourage- 
ment in purchasing their progeny. 

The introduction of good bulls is a comparatively simple 
matter, because they can be purchased, but a great cow herd 
can only be produced by accumulation, probably by a culling 
of at least ten per cent of all females every year during the 
process of up-grading. The yearling heifers should not be 
bred. We always cull them when about eighteen months old, 
cutting them ten per cent. Culling should be done both from 
an individual standpoint and from the standpoint of "Get." 
The culling process is the most important element in beef evo- 
lution. 

The process of culling will not be extravagant, because 
looking to the next few years it would seem that canner cattle 
will probably be as strong as any other branch of the industry, 
and these culls are usually not only splendid canners, but fur- 
nish quite an element of cutters, which means cattle producing 
very fair meat for regular consumption. I believe, too, that 
on any range of appreciable dimensions you will find it an 
economy to produce your own bulls, and in starting any good 
sized property I urge that you keep that in mind. Get your 
cows just as good as you can get them; of course pure-breds 
will be better, and then use only the best registered sires in 
that herd. 

I think advisable, too, in your branding, to put the year 
brand on all heifers, as it will be of material assistance to you 
in the matter of knowing the intensification of blood during the 
early process. It will not be so important later on when the 
cattle are all very high grade. 

The use of the scrub bull is an economic crime ; therefore 
no matter what you use in the way of a sire you are pointed 
upward, but I feel that it will be a distinct economy to try to 
get seven-eighths, or at least fifteen-sixteenths sires. 

Another thing which offers a great economy in your coun- 
try is the possibility of dropping calves an average of about 
two months earlier than they do in Texas. We do not like to 
have a calf come before the 1st of April. I believe that you can 
drop yours during January and February without any trouble, 
judging from the average condition of your cattle in a winter 
said to be from early October, the most severe you have ever 
had. Dropping a calf at that time will have him old enough 
to eat your young grasses when they begin to come. He will 

—12— 



have a two months' pull over the Texas calf ; will have at least 
two months longer to combine nursing and grazing to deliver 
him the first of November. 

As a summary of your breeding problem, I regard it as the 
simplest thing you have to deal with. There seems to be a sure 
result by comparison with other countries ; there can be little 
argument as to its economic value, and it is simply a matter 
of disposition and making the proper investment in inclosures, 
in bulls and water development to accomplish a good business 
result. 

I only want to add this fragment as to breeding. Since 
dictating this section I chanced to meet at lunch today Mr. 
Will Goodwin, for thirty years one of the officers and managers 
of the Breeders' Gazette and one of the best authorities in the 
world on cattle. His winter home is near Ocala, Florida, and 
he has seen enough of your ranges to convince him of their 
great utility in beef production. He agrees with me that the 
evolution of your cattle is simply a matter of disposition. I 
find, however, that he has no use for the Brahma bull, although 
he joins me in the belief that you can not do anything to hurt 
the present breeding process, and he rather grudgingly admits 
that the Brahma bull may have a place in scale. I reviewed 
with him at some length what has preceded and asked him 
what he thought about my comparison with the Texas primi- 
tive cattle as to having more scale. He thinks I am right 
in that connection, but says that he believes the Florida cow 
is more shapely ; that she has a better hindquarter than the old 
Texan cattle, and is, in a sense, a miniature Shorthorn, and 
that he believes that a cross between a Shorthorn and a primi- 
tive Florida cow will give you the best basis. 

I called his attention to the fact that in range experience 
neither the Blacks nor the Shorthorns seem to be able to make 
their own living as well as the Herefords and do not get the 
calf crop, and he was quite free to say that it had a little force. 
On the other hand, he confirms fully my belief that where a 
better class of protection can be offered than the vast ranges, 
the Shorthorn cross and the cross with the Blacks either on 
primitive cows or their cross will have splendid results. 

He also called my attention to the prominence that Blacks 
are getting in Florida. 

There is, therefore, a very wide range of possibilities in 
your breeding problem, all of it pointed upward, and there may 
be something in your experience here which will show that the 
Shorthorn and Black have a greater mission on the open range 
than they had in Texas. There certainly can be no question 
about the value of the blood. 

And here I might add that the Government is not asking 
any one to increase beef production from a patriotic stand- 
point, but rather that it offers a splendid investment. And 
perhaps I might add that when our boys who have gone into the 

—13— 



army come back again they will practically all be trained 
athletes ; men seasoned to the out-of-doors and loving it ; men 
who have obtained an earnestness in life and a new vision as to 
usefulness, and when you stop to reflect that we have been 
sending the flower of the world to the front, when it comes back 
to us we will not only have the attributes I have described, 
but the flower of the world to apply them, and I look for an 
increased interest in all of the out-of-door lines of business 
such as America has never seen before. 

I thought I knew something of my own country and some- 
thing of the possibilities of land available for cattle production, 
but seeing your ranges has been a revelation. They are off the 
track of the tourist. There is sparse settlement, and they are 
known to very few. In fact, they might be, in a sense, called 
a hidden country, but the whole of America is interested in 
everything that offers a good agricultural or stock-raising 
possibility, and when our boys come back, not only the boys 
of the South, but the boys of America are going to investigate 
your properties. 

I promised to come back to water development. Practically 
every question that I have asked in the main about water has 
been covered by the reply, "Water everywhere." Much of 
your area is watered by rivers and lakes, and where good 
surface water is not easily available for stock, your well water 
is so easily obtainable and at such small investment you can 
afford to have it every two miles over the entire country. 

I am told that the windmill will furnish ample production, 
and at that narrow depth the light mills, which go well in a 
light wind, are available. We have found it very valuable, 
however, to use the one and a half horsepower gasoline en- 
gines, and from that pumping supply as our live stock de- 
manded, because you must keep water constantly before the 
cattle. Cattle become accustomed to watering at one place, 
and if there is no water they will stand around and wait for 
the mill to pump. 

Without attempting to go into details, you should have a 
proper water storage at each mill. It is small expense, and with 
a storage tank and a windmill it would be cheaper than a 
gasoline engine. 

It is always customary in our country to put salt around 
the water holes. I find, as a proposition, your cattle do not 
have salt at all, and it is very much needed in their develop- 
ment. Over some areas there is no lime, and there it would 
probably be wise to combine salt and lime, which can be very 
easily done by using a compressed cake, not rock salt. It may 
take these primitive cattle some time to learn how to lick the 
salt, but the next generation will be there all right, and it will 
have its influence in their development. 

It is my observation that under a proper development of 
water, a fenced area and proper subdivision fences permitting 

—14— 



the protection of one pasture for winter purposes, forcing the 
cattle out in summer upon areas best adapted to that season, 
that Florida lands will carry from two to three times the num- 
ber of cattle that the average Texas range does. 

I find, too, that a great deal of the range offers a splendid 
hog feed from the cabbage palm, the seed of the palmetto and 
from the mast found in the shinnery. It would seem, therefore, 
that an appreciable number of hogs may be produced without 
extra cost on most Florida ranges. While they will not sell 
for the top prices unless fattened on some concentrate, they 
bring a very fair figure as against combined result and over- 
head charges, and should be a big factor in revenue and one 
that we do not have in Texas. 

Your lands are singularly free from pests. To illustrate, 
it cost us something over $75,000 to kill prairie dogs on about 
450,000 acres of Texas lands, and outside of the shinnery lands 
the great bulk of Texas lands have been populated with prairie 
dogs, which in bad times take at least one-third of the grass. 
You do not seem to have the screw worm, which bothers us a 
great deal in very wet weather. 

You can own your posts at a comparatively small cost and 
with normal prices of wire I should say could construct your 
fences for three-fourths of what it costs us. You have no very 
long drives for your cattle when shipping them, and in the mat- 
ter of winter help to your cattle it will cost very little as com- 
pared with what we have to spend in Texas. To give you an 
idea, we are buying $50,000 worth of feed to winter a herd of 
25,000 head of cattle. While your season here will permit 
you to get through with very little extra cost, if any, I think 
that you should make a provision for some concentrate, so as 
to have it. In Texas, when the grass is all gone, the use of 
cotton seed cake is limited when not taken in conjunction with 
a good filler, and there is never a time when you at least don't 
have a good filler. It is simply a matter of getting a little con- 
centrate on it and cutting out the weak cattle and concentrating 
them to such winter help. 

You are right where we were in '82 — large areas of land, 
in which our problem was to make them carry themselves 
without cost, or pay a small interest until such time as they 
would sell at good value. We had very low values on cattle, 
long distances from the railroads — in fact, every possible dis- 
advantage, but these lands have always paid for taxes and 
overhead expenses and have always given us a little something 
in addition, and are at a point now where they pay us a very 
good net interest on $10.00 land and $70.00 cows. We probably 
could sell every acre that we own at a price which would give 
us more net money than we get from the cattle business, but 
our people consider it a mighty good back-log to have lands 
which were almost without value brought up to that value and 
to their earning capacity. 

—15— 



I think that if you go into the cattle business you should 
study very carefully the possibility of disposing of the calf at 
weaning time. That is something you will have to grow to. 
The Government is authority for the statement that the eco- 
nomical production of beef is the calf, taken at weaning time, 
not allowed to go back, but kept coming in the matter of feed- 
ing, and if this calf is to be taken at that age, you can run 
twenty per cent more cows on your range, producing an aver- 
age of fifteen per cent more calves, as against developing a 
steer to the three or four year old period, in which his individ- 
ual gain is your revenue in the matter of a carrying charge. 
I believe, too, you will find it an economy to dehorn these calves 
at branding time. It can be done with practically no loss of 
blood. The animal is well in a very short time. I think he 
develops better and he certainly sells quicker. 

Packers have immense contracts, and if the war continues 
they must have lots of tinned beef. On the other hand, if the 
war stops the world must stock up again with tinned beef. We 
know that they expected to pay an average of at least one cent 
per pound more for their canners the past year, but that the 
great drought has forced so many cattle in, the owners were 
very thankful to take what they got and the packers were 
forced to their capacity to attempt to handle them in such 
quantities. We know that the calf crop of Texas next year 
will probably show a decrease of twenty-five per cent, and that 
if rain comes in time to give good spring grass that a farmer 
will pay anywhere from ten to twenty-five per cent more 
in Texas than any other part of America. It would not sur- 
prise me at all to see your Florida cattle shippped over to 
Texas. We know, too, that next year, instead of the normal 
number of cows coming in in the culling process, which find 
their average market as canners, it will be the disposition of 
every ranchman to hold back cows which would ordinarily go 
into the culls in order that his ranch may be brought up sooner 
to re-stocking. 

I would urge all of you to get your fences up and buy as 
many cattle as you can handle, because the she-stuff is going to 
be higher. This is particularly true of the she-stuff which has 
been selling at the values of Florida primitive cattle. 



— 1&— 



FORAGE CROPS FOR FLORIDA. 



{Address delivered before the Florida State Live Stock Asso- 
ciation, January 9, 1918, by Prof. C. V. Piper, Agrostolo- 
gist. Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.) 

For many years I have been interested in the problem 
of more and better forage for the South, because it has long 
been evident to students of agriculture that sooner or later 
there would be an important live stock industry developed in 
the South. The present greatly increased interest of Florida, 
and, indeed, of the entire South, marks, I believe, the begin- 
ning of this epoch. Several economic incentives have con- 
spired to bring about the present active interest and develop- 
ment. Chief among them, perhaps, were: First, changes 
necessitated by the spread of the cotton boll weevil ; and, sec- 
ond, the present high range of prices for live stock — prices 
that in all probability will be little, if any, reduced for many 
years to come. 

Another incentive that must, however, be recognized was 
the desire of enterprising men to develop the latent resources 
of the South, not only as an attest of their economic faith, 
but also from the patriotic motive of helping the nation in 
this period of stress. 

As an indication of the extent of this movement I may 
state that within the past two years over thirty extensive 
live stock enterprises have oeen launched, all in the piney 
woods region of the Southern States. Most of these com- 
panies have ample capital, and most of them are proceeding 
along conservative lines. 

The future development and prosperity of this industry 
must rest upon a thorough knowledge and proper utilization 
of the forage crops adapted to the region. In very large 
measure these forages are quite different from those used in 
the portions of the United States where animal husbandry 
is most developed. From a practical standpoint we cannot 
use in the South the forages of the North and West, with 
the important exception of corn. The other great forages — 
timothy, red clover, alfalfa, blue grass and white clover — can 
never become important in Florida. This fact needs emphasis, 
because the newcomer in Florida is often carried away with 
the idea that these forages may be made to succeed. 

In the beginning of this active live stock development 
it is unfortunate that there is not a larger body of exact 
data concerning both the culture and feeding value of the 
more important forages available. There is a large amount 
of such information concerning corn, timothy, red clover, 
alfalfa, blue grass and white clover, not only in America, but 

—17— 



also in Europe. Furthermore, countless live stock farms exist 
where the practical utilization of these forages has been 
worked out in detail. In comparison, our stock of knowledge 
concerning Southern forages, both from experimental inves- 
tigations and from practical experience, is relatively small. 
This is not surprising, because the experiment stations have 
very properly been compelled to devote their energies mainly 
to assisting agricultural industries in proportion to their 
existing importance, rather than to industries in which there 
was relatively little interest. In this matter of Southern for- 
ages I have long advocated much more generous support on 
the part of the State and Federal agricultural agencies, because 
I have great faith in the future possibilities. 

With the magnificent start that has now been made in 
live stock farming in the South, we may hope for much more 
generous support to live stock and forage investigations, but 
this hope will be realized only if we are insistent in our 
demands. The knowledge thus to be obtained is fundamental, 
and the progress that is made in live stock raising will be 
conditioned in an important measure on the accurate inves- 
tigations that can be conducted only at properly equipped 
experiment stations. 

One other angle of these general considerations must not 
be overlooked. The northern or western man who may be 
considering developing a live stock ranch in the South naturally 
wants to see developed ranches in which the practical prob- 
lems have been worked out. In all the South there are very 
few cattle ranches which have reached a finished state of 
development — where the concrete demonstration exists of a 
type of management that can be duplicated. 

Now, of course, I am fully aware that Florida and all 
the South has long had an extensive cattle industry based 
on the natural grasses of the prairies and of the piney woods. 
In general, this has been a profitable industry, especially on 
free range. Without hurting anyone's feelings, we will, I 
think, agree that this has not been a very high grade of live 
stock ranching. Indeed, the ordinary Northern or Western 
man, who is, of course, a superficial observer, has gotten the 
idea from the scrub cattle and razorback hogs that he saw, that 
there is something in the South that is inimical to good live 
stock. Usually he has decided it is the climate. Fortunately 
we know from the work of every Southern experiment station, 
as well as of a few good live stock ranches, that the South can 
raise just as good cattle and hogs as the North. It isn't a 
matter of climate, at all, but purely one of breed and feed. 

I have spoken thus candidly because I feel that I am a 
friend among friends, and because I have very much faith 
in the industry you represent. If I were not so optimistic as 
to the future of the live stock industry in Florida I should be 
afraid to lay bare any weak factors that exist. I believe 

—18— 



with Huxley in the wisdom of facing things as they are, rather 
than indulging in make believe. 

Perhaps it will be most helpful in discussmg the forages 
adapted to Florida to proceed from the viewpoint of the man 
starting a cattle ranch. The basis, of course, of any profit- 
able cattle ranch is permanent pasturage, the cheapest of all 
feeds, and, to supplement this, a supply of feed, which may 
be hay, ensilage, or in Southern Florida, green feed, to bridge 
over the season of short pastures. If one is to produce highly 
finished beef, grain feeds and other concentrates must be 
raised or purchased. 

In discussing pasturage it will be convenient to recog- 
nize three types of lands, namely, piney woods, prairie, and 
mucks, realizing, of course, that this is a very rough classi- 
fication. 

Piney Woods Lands. 

In the piney woods the natural pasturage is composed 
mainly of broom sedge and wire grasses. During the grow- 
ing season, from spring till late fall, these grasses furnish 
fair pasturage, but through the rest of the year they merely 
enable animals to exist. What can be done towards convert- 
ing these poor native pastures into good permanent pastures? 
There are three possibilities in the light of our present knowl- 
edge. On better soils good Bermuda pastures can be devel- 
oped, or where the lands are moist, as on most flatwood areas, 
carpet grass may be used. On the drier and poorer soils. Natal 
grass is the only one that has given much success. 

How can Bermuda or carpet grass pasture best be estab- 
lished^ The sure method is to stump your land and plow 
it, and then plant the Bermuda by the vegetative method in 
spring, or any time thereafter in summer, during the rainy 
season At the McNeill station in Mississippi, located on land 
much like that of the northern tier of counties in Florida, they 
have developed the following method: Plow furrows about 
ten feet apart between the stumps in spring, and stick in a 
root or sprig of Bermuda about every ten feet. At McNeill 
it is found necessary to use a little fertilizer to insure the 
growth of these Bermuda plants. During the following winter 
the stumps are removed, and then in spring the land is plowed 
and Lespedeza seed sown. Enough Bermuda has grown in 
the furrows to insure a stand of Bermuda, and this is supple- 
mented by the Lespedeza. Indeed, the first season the Les- 
pedeza will furnish more pasturage than the Bermuda. 
Lespedeza is rather a tricky plant in Florida and i^ hardly 
worth consideration except in the northern part of the btate. 
On most of the Florida flatwood soils carpet grass is 
much more aggressive than Bermuda, and in time will, if left 
alone, completely replace the Bermuda. To a large extent this 
can be obviated by plowing the pastures whenever the carpet 
grass seems to be obtaining the upper hand. Unfortunately, 

— 1»— 



we do not know the relative values of equal areas of Bermuda 
grass and of carpet grass where the latter is most aggressive. 
Carpet grass does not grow so tall, but is green for a longer 
period. It may, indeed, be found more economical not to try 
to save the Bermuda after the carpet grass crowds it. From 
observations, I am inclined to believe that neither the carry- 
ing capacity nor the feed values per acre of the two grasses 
is greatly different on most flatwood soils. If this be true, 
it would not be economy to go to any particular trouble to 
retain the Bermuda instead of the carpet grass. 

At McNeill the pasturage on areas that have long been 
closely grazed is carpet grass. Unfortunately, no experiments 
have been conducted to compare these two grasses as to ease 
of establishment and as to carrying capacity. Carpet grass 
produces abundant good seed, and therefore spreads much 
more rapidly than Bermuda, which rarely produces seed in 
humid regions. 

It is found necessary to remove the stumps at McNeill, 
because for the first year or two on the plowed ground, weeds, 
especially "fennel" or "Yankee weed," appear abundantly, and 
must be mowed or they will kill the grasses by shading. Mow- 
ing with the stumps on the land is impracticable, as the weeds 
conceal many of the stumps. 

Whether it is practicable to establish good permanent 
pastures without stumping and plowing the land is yet an 
unsolved problem. About every Florida settlement where 
the town cattle graze, there is good pasture, commonly carpet 
grass. You will find just this on the outskirts of Jackson- 
ville. Such pasturage has been established by heavy continu- 
ous grazing, under which conditions the broom sedge and 
wire grass are exterminated, while the creeping carpet grass 
comes in and persists. It may be that the manure of the ani- 
mals is also a factor, and there can scarcely be a question 
that the trampling helps. As an example of this kind occurs 
about nearly every Florida town, it would seem as if it could 
be duplicated on cattle ranches. I have suggested to several 
cattlemen that it is worth trying on a scale by three methods : 
(1) Simply burning the native grass in winter; (2) burning, 
followed by disking or harrowing; and (3) plowing among 
the stumps. 

If possible, carpet grass seed should be scattered on each 
area, and in all cases close grazing should be practiced. Unfor- 
tunately, carpet grass seed cannot be secured commercially, 
except in small quantities at high prices, but it is easy to cut 
the mature carpet grass in fall from a pasture and cure the 
hay. The carpet grass can then be sown simply by scattering 
the hay. Whether any of these schemes will work out satis- 
factorily still remains to be determined. 

As to Natal grass, I have already mentioned that this 
succeeds better on the poorer and drier pine lands than any 

—20— 



other grass yet introduced. Thus far it has been exploited 
purely as a grass for market hay. On this basis many hun- 
dred acres were planted in Lake County and elsewhere. Grass 
culture purely for market hay is a very precarious proposi- 
tion. The proper agricultural economy is grass for live stock, 
selling only the surplus to the market. Notwithstanding the 
very large acreage planted to Natal, I have been quite unable 
to secure satisfactory data as to its value for pasturage, meas- 
ured in carrying capacity and satisfactory gains. It seems 
to me, from the slender data I have been able to secure, fairly 
probable that Natal will prove a valuable grass for combined 
hay and pasture on the soils to which it is so well adapted, 
but of course it can hardly be expected to yield enough to 
justify the extravagant prices paid for land planted to Natal. 

Prairie Lands. 

On the prairies of Florida there is much better natural 
pasturage than in the piney woods, and, indeed, it is on the 
prairies that the old type of cattle industry reached its highest 
development. The prairies are in reality wet meadows. Their 
grass cover is due to water relations, most of them being 
periodically overflowed — conditions that are inimical to pines 
and palmettos. On the other hand, the period of overflow 
is too brief to meet the conditions necessary for cypress and 
other swamp trees. These prairies stretch from the border 
of the pine woods and palmettos on relatively high ground 
to permanently wet swamps. The best natural pasturage 
consists of various species of paspalum and related flat-leaved 
grasses on the soils fairly moist during a large part of the 
year ; and maiden cane on still moister land, or even in shallow 
water. Generally speaking, the moisture relations of the more 
extensive prairies are nearly ideal for continuous pasturage 
in the varying seasons. There is grave danger in any exten- 
sive drainage operations, as palmettos and pines will quickly 
invade such drained land, and thus destroy the grass. 

For improved pasture on these lands, particularly on 
those reasonably moist. Para grass offers great possibilities. 
The remarkably rapid growth and high yield of this grass, 
combined with its palatability and nutritiousness, make it of 
prime importance in connection with better live stock. Para 
succeeds well also on the better uplands, but, generally speak- 
ing, it is a grass for moist lands. The farther south, the 
more valuable it is, as after frost it is of little value. 

Another grass that is likely to be very valuable on the 
prairies, and, indeed, on the flatwoods and better uplands, is 
paspalum dilatatum, native to Argentina. This is perhaps 
the best of the paspalums, and it is now widespread in the 
Southern States. Unfortunately, with us the seeds are largely 
destroyed by a fungus, but good commercial seed is obtainable 
in quantity from Australia. 

—21— 



Muck Lands. 

On the muck lands the problem of pasturage is easy. At 
least four grasses, namely, Para, Carib, Rhodes and Ber- 
muda, especially Giant Bermuda, yield wonderfully. The 
enormous area of muck lands in Florida, especially in the 
Everglades, can, it would seem, be utilized only with the aid 
of livestock. While there may be some fairly difficult prob- 
lems to solve in handling live stock on muck soils, especially 
in the wet season, there can be little doubt that grass and 
live stock will insure the permanency of these lands. Under 
continuous cultivation there is a constant shrinkage in muck 
soils, but with grass and live stock this is nearly, if not quite, 
counterbalanced. 

Carib grass on muck soils is, from limited data, superior 
to Para grass both in yield and quality. On other types of 
soil Para will outyield Carib. Rhodes grass does wonderfully 
on muck soil, and, indeed, on most rich soils. Giant Bermuda 
is far coarser and more vigorous than ordinary Bermuda. 
It will succeed wherever ordinary Bermuda will grow, and, 
in addition, seems much better able to withstand flooding. 

Temporary or annual pasture crops are mainly important 
in connection with swine raising. Various systems of such 
crops have been devised to furnish successive pastures. Flor- 
ida has a long list of such crops that can be utilized. Among 
them are oats, rye, rape, sorghum, peanuts, cow peas, chufas, 
sweet potatoes, corn and velvet beans. Under certain condi- 
tions the cattleman may have to utilize one or more of these 
crops, but corn and velvet beans is the one that is the most 
important. 

The story of the velvet bean is really one of the romances 
of agriculture. Introduced into Florida about 1875 from some 
unknown source, it first attracted attention as a forage about 
1890. Until 1914 it was but little grown outside of Florida. 
In 1915 the crop was certainly less than 1,000,000 acres. In 
1916 it had increased to 2,500,000, and in 1917 to about 
6,000,000 acres. The explanation of this remarkable increase 
was the finding of earlier "sports." Three of these appeared 
independently — one in Alabama, two in Georgia. These early 
varieties immensely increased the area over which the velvet 
bean can be grown, so that now it embraces practically all 
of the cotton belt. These early sports of the old Florida 
are most grown, but the Chinese velvet bean, introduced by 
the Department, and the hybrids developed by the Florida 
Experiment Station, are important. In spite of vigorous 
search, the native home of the Florida velvet bean yet remains 
unknown, but it is probably in the Indo-Malayan region of 
Southern Asia. 

The importance of the velvet bean to the live stock indus- 
try now developing in the South can scarcely be over-estimated. 
Grown with com, it increases the com crop year after year, 

—22— 



and besides furnishes a large amount of nutritious feed to be 
eaten by the animals when the grass pasture season is over. 
It reduces greatly the cost of finishing of beef animals for 
market. This year the velvet bean has been no small factor 
in helping out the great shortage of foodstuffs, quantities of 
them having been shipped to Texas. Finally, it has resulted 
in a new industry for the South, namely, the manufacture 
of velvet bean meal, which has already won for itself a large 
demand. 

Hay Plants. 

The problem of producing hay in Florida is made par- 
ticularly difficult by frequent rains, except in the fall of the 
year. The bulk of the hay now produced is from the crab 
grass that volunteers in cultivated fields. In recent years 
much Natal hay has been grown for market. Para grass 
hay is of good quality, and Rhodes grass of very fine quality. 
Other hays are made from cow peas, cow peas and sorghum 
mixed, Mexican clover, beggar-weed, oats, millet, etc. 

The subject of hay, however, is vital only to the city 
market. To the live stock man it is of minor importance, 
as silage furnishes so satisfactory a substitute. 

Ensilage Crops. 

Corn is, of course, the standard crop for ensilage, and its 
relative importance in Florida is not far different from that 
in other States. 

Under certain conditions sorghums will yield greater ton- 
nage than corn, and the resulting silage is but slightly inferior. 

Florida possesses, in addition, a unique silage plant in 
Japanese sugar cane. The perennial nature of this plant and 
its high yielding capacity make it a cheap fodder to grow. 
It may be utilized as green feed, as silage, as dry fodder, or 
for pasture. Your own experiment station has published the 
best information we have on this forage. As a feed for dairy 
cows there can be no question of its high value, either green 
or as silage. There still seems to be question, however, as 
to the relative value of Japanese cane silage as compared 
with corn silage. In Southern Florida the cane stays green 
all winter, as a rule, so that there is no necessity for ensiling 
it for winter feed. It may well prove, however, that a supply 
of Japanese cane silage will prove good insurance against 
periods of shortage even in South Florida. 

You may have noted that all the pasture plants I have 
mentioned are grasses. Very unfortunately we have not as 
yet any good perennial pasture legume adapted to Florida. 
I say "unfortunately" because, as is well known, the true 
grasses are nutritious in proportion to the fertility of the 
land. That is, the better the land the more nutritious the 
pasture. But with legumes no such relations exist, because 
legumes are not dependent on the soil for their nitrogen supply. 

While we have no satisfactory perennial pasture legume, 

—28— 



we have one summer annual, lespedeza, that helps to some 
extent in North Florida. There are also two winter annuals 
that reproduce themselves in which I have considerable con- 
fidence, namely, burr clover and narrow-leaf vetch. I believe 
that on many of the better pasture soils, especially in North 
Florida, that these legumes can be established and that they 
will re-seed themselves year after year. Of course due care 
must be taken to secure inoculation, preferably by the soil 
method. 

The Outlook for New Forages. 

What the future may hold in store for us in the way of 
new forages does not assist at the present time, but it is 
worth considering. It is well to bear in mind that the agri- 
culture of the North, with the single important exception of 
corn, is mainly a direct inheritance from European agricul- 
ture. Substitute root crops for corn and you have in essence 
the European practice. Southern agriculture, on the contrary, 
is almost purely an American development — cotton, corn, 
tobacco, sweet potatoes, from the American Indian ; cow peas, 
Rhodes grass, Natal grass and sorghum from South Africa; 
soy beans, lespedeza, Japanese cane from Japan ; carpet grass 
and Para grass from the West Indies; Bermuda from India; 
velvet beans from Southern Asia. 

Northern forage plants have been pretty thoroughly 
studied both in Europe and America, because European con- 
ditions are fairly like those of our Northern States. But 
there yet remains hosts of grasses and legumes adapted to 
sub-tropical climates concerning which we know practically 
nothing. 

Out of very numerous grasses and legumes at present 
under test are several that possess promise, and these I shall 
discuss briefly. 

Kudzu. 

Kudzu is not particularly new, but it seems to me destined 
to a much greater importance than at present. It is the only 
perennial forage legume that has in any sense made good in 
Florida. It is much better adapted to clayey soils than to 
sandy soils, but it also succeeds remarkably well on the lime- 
stone soils about Miami. On the better sandy soils it would 
also seem to be valuable, but on the poorer sandy soils and 
poorly drained lands it is doubtful if it has a place. On clay 
soils at Arlington Farm, Va., we have consistently gotten two 
cuttings, totaling five tons of hay per acre— double what we 
can get from cow peas or soy beans. I believe kudzu is 
entitled to a fair trial by every Florida cattleman. 

Napier Grass. 

You have doubtless seen some of the numerous refer- 
ences recently in Florida papers to "Japanese bamboo grass" 
or "Carter's grass" as grown about Arcadia. These names 
rest upon a misconception. The grass is a native of South 

—24— 



Africa, properly known as Napier grass, or Pennisetum macro- 
stacMjum, introduced by the Department in 1913. This is a 
perennial much like Japanese cane, and in our tests is found 
hardy as far north as Charleston. It does well on rather poor 
soil and yields heavy crops. In chemical analysis it is richer 
than corn in protein and carbohydrates, but also contains 
three times as much fiber. It is this high fiber content or 
woody character that makes me dubious about its silage value, 
in which opinion Professor Rolfs concurs. When two or three 
feet high it is greedily eaten by animals, and so may be a 
pasturage possibility. As a green feed crop it could be cut 
three or more times each season, when three or four feet high, 
and I am sure will prove a very valuable forage for the man 
with one or two cows. Whether it is a crop for the stockman 
is still doubtful. 

In 1916 we introduced a very similar species, Pennisetum 
merkeri, which is perhaps a little superior, though it is hard 
to tell the two apart. 

Metake. 

The name "Japanese bamboo grass" leads me to mention 
a true Japanese bamboo, the metake. This is a bamboo that 
spreads by rootstocks and forms dense thickets ten to fifteen 
feet high, much like cane brake, and, like our native cane, a 
valuable winter pasture plant. Mr. P. K. Yonge has grown 
it with marked success about twenty miles north of Pensa- 
cola. It seems to me a valuable plant to furnish a supply of 
pasturage in winter, when pasturage is practically gone. It 
is worthy of careful trial on all well-drained Florida soils. 
Tripsacum Laxum. 

Last year we secured from Guatemala a new perennial 
grass which, if it proves winter hardy, will, I am certain, be 
of enormous value to South Florida. This grass grows much 
like teosinte, but is stouter and very much more leafy. The 
stem is tender, sweet and juicy, and all the leaves remain 
green. It is an ideal silage plant. So far as I am aware, 
our trial at Miami is the first time this grass has ever been 
cultivated. The few live stock men who have seen it went 
into ecstasies. It. may prove valuable, however, only for frost- 
less regions. 

Creeping Pasture Grasses. 

At the present time we have under trial five creeping 
pasture grasses, more or less like Bermuda in a general way. 
You are, of course, aware that a pasture grass to be valuable 
should be able to spread naturally and must be able to hold 
the ground. Naturally it takes time to determine all these 
facts. The five grasses I refer to are as follows : 

Blue Couch (Digitaria didactyla) . This is much like Ber- 
muda, but produces abundant good seed. For lawns and pas- 
tures it promises to be about equally as valuable as Bermuda. 

Manilla Grass (Osterdamia matrella). This is especially 

—25— 



adapted to rather moist sandy lands. It grows very dense, 
and where it thrives should be valuable. 

Lovi-lovi (Chrysopogon aciculatus) . This furnishes much 
pasturage in India, the Philippines, and South China. The 
seeds are very abundant, and each sticks into the clothing 
like a pin. But about Hongkong it is used generally as a lawn 
grass. It is well adapted to dry sandy soils. If it proves 
well adapted to Florida we can, I think, chance its becoming 
a nuisance, because if it does thrive it will give much pasture. 

Nilghiri Grass (Andropogon emersus). This is the only 
creeping grass of the genus Andropogon (which includes our 
broom sedges) that we have yet found. I secured it in the 
Nilghiri Hills of South India. It looks promising. 

Kikuyu Grass (Pennisetum sp.). This is native to the 
highlands of Uganda, in British East Africa, and in South 
Africa has created great interest. It looks much like St. 
Augustine grass. At Biloxi, Miss., it has succeeded well. It 
looked very fine at Arlington, Va., but could not stand the 
winter. This grass is said to be very nutritious, and I believe 
that on the better soils of Florida it will prove a real 
acquisition. 

I mention these new things to give you some idea of 
what we are doing. I might mention several others that look 
good to us, but it will be time to speak when we have tried 
them further. In brief, we are scouring the earth to find 
grasses and legumes to meet Florida's needs. We have faith 
that the grasses and legumes exist, if we only can find them. 

Gentlemen, in closing I must say one thing more. Our 
country is at war — a war that will tax our energies and 
resources to the uttermost. No more dangerous idea can be 
entertained than to minimize the task, or to delude ourselves 
with the prospect of an early peace. 

One important factor is food, especially meat and wheat. 
Only an unusually favorable season can produce for us as 
much wheat as last year. Our meat and forage supplies are 
low, because in times of food scarcity, grass crops are neces- 
sarily sacrificed. Gentlemen, you can do much to help increase 
the meat supply. In developing your ranches to increase your 
output, I want to urge as a patriotic duty that you increase 
your good pasturage and your winter feed supply as rapidly 
as you can. I could not urge this in peace times, because 
rapid development is never the most economical. But in this 
time of stress you cattlemen can help the nation most by 
increasing your output to the maximum. There is no other 
way for you to give to the nation that will count so much. 
I therefore urge that you brush aside all questions as to the 
economically best method of increasing pasturage and forage, 
and to devote all your capital and all your energy to doin^ 
this along any lines that are sure. 

—26— 



FLORIDA AS SEEN FROM A TEXAS STANDPOINT, 



Address by W. N. Waddell of Fort Worth, Texas, before the 
Florida State Live Stock Association, January 9, 1918. 

Mr. Waddell started to working cattle on the Texas ranges 
in 1875, and has been in the cattle business for himself sinee 
1881. 

He was chairman of the Live Stock Sanitary Commission 
of Texas for four years, and for a number of years has been 
the Texas representative of the Live Stock Exchange National 
Bank of Chicago, and of the Chicago Cattle Loan Company. 

After spending a week in Florida during August of 1917, 
Mr. Waddell returned to the State in November and spent 
considerable time investigating the opportunities for raising 
cattle. This address gives his views on the advantages FloHda 
possesses as a cattle-producing state. 

In order to understand or to be able to appreciate a propo- 
sition of almost any character it is necessary to approach it by 
comparison, and in making comparisons touching Florida I 
wish to state that I have traveled over the range of the five 
northern states of old Mexico ; I have traveled over the south- 
ern part of the range belt of Arizona; I have traveled over 
about half of the state of New Mexico and virtually all of 
Texas, and I find in Florida conditions favorable to the pro- 
duction of live stock that do not exist in any of the states I 
have named, which constitute the great range belt of the 
Southwest. In Mexico there is very little water, and water 
is very hard to get by digging, the wells averaging from 150 
to 1,000 feet deep, and in a great many instances no water at 
all. In Mexico they also have a great many animals that prey 
on the live stock, such as panthers, lobo wolves, bears, as well 
as the common, ordinary coyote. None of these have to be 
contended with here. 

In Arizona and New Mexico about the same conditions 
prevail as do in northern Old Mexico. In Texas we have bears 
and sundry pests to prey on our live stock. The prairie dog 
infests a great many of our ranches, destroying the grass, 
digging holes in the ground, and making it dangerous for tl ,; 
cowboy to ride over in the pursuit of his range endeavors. W e 
have wolves of all species. In Texas we have also the screv/ 
worms that are a tax on the live stock producer to the extent 
of from two to five per cent of the calves born on his ranch, and 
I am sorry to say that worst of all we have periodical droughts. 
None of these adverse conditions I find prevail in Florida. 

Here I find the country covered with a thick, heavy coat of 
grass, streams running with plenty of water and I understand 
where natural water is not available that it is only about from 
twenty to one hundred feet to an abundant supply of water 
under the ground, making the proposition of watering the 

—27— 



ranches in Florida, where artificial water is necessary, a very 
simple matter. The climate in Florida is temperate and mild, 
rainfall is regular and abundant, and, so far as the production 
of forage for live stock on the range is concerned, your rainfall 
and your soils all seem to combine in favor of the producer of 
live Steele. 

I never was more amazed in my life than I was last sum- 
mer, when, in company with a committee of other cattle men 
from Texas, I visited this state. At that time I was shown 
over the southern middle part of Florida ; was shown a great 
domain of country lying out of doors, as it were and as we term 
it in Texas, furnishing free range for hundreds of thousands 
of cattle. I did not believe my ears when I was told those con- 
ditions existed here, and I can't understand yet why a state 
as old as Florida, with as many surface indications of possi- 
bilities for the production of hve stock, should remain un- 
fenced, unoccupied, and non-revenue producing to the men 
who own the land. 

Another surprise that met us when we came to Florida in 
the summer was the absolute lack of any improvement in the 
live stock that we found here. In fact, it is my judgment that 
the cattle in Florida today, from what I have read of the his- 
tory of Florida, are not as good as they were thirty years ago, 
and I am surprised, when I think of the facilities furnished 
the cattle men of Florida by the land owners for the grazing 
of their cattle, that they haven't taken any more interest in 
their cattle than they have and tried to improve them. 

Florida today, as never before, is attracting national at- 
tention as a possible beef-producing state. The eyes of the 
investing public are turned toward Florida, and it is my judg- 
ment that within the next five years Florida will make greater 
strides in the development of the live stock industry than it has 
ever made before. And I want here and now to issue a warn- 
ing to you gentlemen who are running your cattle on the open 
ranges of Florida that you had better get busy and get control 
of what land you expect to use as a cattle ranch, for if I mis- 
take not, outsiders are coming into this state who will buy or 
lease these lands, put them under fence and inaugurate a sys- 
tem of live stock production on an improved basis as compared 
to the present methods being pursued in this state. 

And in this connection I wish to state that I have discussed 
this open range proposition with some of the largest land 
owners in Florida. They tell me that they want to see Florida 
developed ; they tell me they are in line to lend their energies, 
their time and their money to anything that will develop the 
State of Florida. After listening to them talk this line of 
earnest progressiveness, I have put the proposition to them 
just like it was put to us in Texas, and that is, formulate an 
equitable leasing proposition, one that will safeguard the inter- 
ests of the land owner, and at the same time lend protection 

—28— 



to the vested rights of the lessee, and advertise that to the 
world. Let the people not only of Florida, but the people out- 
side of the State of Florida, know that they can come to Florida 
and at a small rental cost, lease as many acres of good grazing 
land as they have money to get cattle with which to stock it, 
assuring the prospective lessee that they will fence the land 
according to his desires and will build him a ranch house to 
live in; that they will fence him a horse pasture to keep his 
saddle horses in ; will build him a dipping vat on the land, and 
where necessary will bore wells and equip them with wind- 
mill and pump sufficient to furnish plenty of water for the live 
stock on the land so leased. 

There was never any marked development or marked 
improvement in the live stock industry in the State of Texas 
as long as the cattle ranged on the free grass, but in 1884 the 
Legislature passed what was known as a Lease Law. Then 
it was, gentlemen, that the fencing up of the State of Texas 
began in earnest. No man was willing to pay lease on land and 
let somebody else's cattle graze on it. And that is the first step 
needed to be taken in the evolution of better cattle in Florida. 
The land owners should fence up their lands, cut them up in 
pastures to suit the men who want to run their cattle on them, 
making the lands of Florida revenue-producing, instead of 
being a liability, and put the cattle of Florida under fence and 
under control wherein individual effort may develop in a desire 
to excel. I can not stress this proposition too strongly. I 
haven't the language to express the importance of putting the 
lands of Florida under fence and the cattle under control in 
order that better cattle and more cattle may be raised. The 
most important step looking to better cattle in Florida has 
already been taken in the creation of a Live Stock Sanitary 
Board and the work incident thereto of tick eradication. This 
work and the efforts of the Florida State Live Stock Sanitary 
Board will be much more effective and easier of accomplish- 
ment when you get the ranges of Florida fenced and the cattle 
under control. 

It seems to me that Florida has been overlooked. I am led 
to the belief that the Florida cowmen have been lulled to sleep, 
as it were, by the fact that they haven't been bothered by any 
outside influences. In discussing the breeding up or improving 
of the cattle with a good many breeders whom I have met in 
this State, I find that all voice the sentiment that they would 
like to raise better cattle ; that the State ought to produce better 
cattle ; and that it is a good cattle country. 

Florida is wasting approximately enough good pasture to 
produce a meat supply sufficient to feed several states by con- 
fining the quality of the herds to the little native cattle we saw 
on the ranges. True, we saw lots of cattle, more than I sup- 
posed existed in the entire State, but the opportunity before 
the cattle men is to breed up the quality and size. That this 

— 2&— 



can be done was demonstrated by some herds we visited, and 
the reports on those herds show that this is a better cattle 
breeding country than Texas, for your owners are branding 
a larger proportion of calves to breeding cows in herds than 
we are able to get. 

I am sure that good cattle can be raised in Florida because 
I have seen them. I am sure that good hogs can be raised in 
Florida because I have seen them, and on the question of the 
hog, I wish to state that on the open range country of Florida, 
especially the southern part in the prairie country, where there 
are hard wood and cabbage hammocks, is the ideal country in 
which to grow hogs. I made the statement when I was here 
in the summer that I believed a man could fence up a range 
of ten or twenty or thirty thousand acres in Florida, stock it 
with cattle and stock it with hogs, and that I believed the hogs 
would pay the overhead charges of running the ranch, and my 
observations here for the past thirty days traveling over the 
State have convinced me that that statement was not very 
much exaggerated. 

There is no reason why cattle men should not make divi- 
dends on investments while breeding up the quality of their 
herds, for this is a great cattle country. 

I am very much surprised to find that sheep are not more 
generally handled on the ranges with the cattle. The absence 
of coyotes make sheep raising particularly attractive, and they 
will not injure the cattle pasturage if properly proportioned. 
There ought to be several hundred thousand sheep on the 
Kissimmee River Valley ranges. We handle large numbers 
of sheep and cattle together, although our ranges are not nearly 
so good as those in Florida. 

In conclusion, I will state that I think Florida offers the 
best field for live stock production along improved lines of any 
State in America. That is, cattle can be raised here cheaper 
and with less uncertainty than any place I know. 



A GLANCE BACKWARD AND FORWARD. 



Annual Address before the Florida State Live Stock Associa- 
tion, Jantmry 8, 1918, by Dr. W. F. Blackman, 
President of the Association. 

Never before have we met in circumstances so extraordi- 
nary and under the stress of thoughts and emotions so many, 
so various, so conflicting and perplexing as today. Our minds 
are engrossed and appalled by the world catastrophe into 
which we have been plunged. Since our last meeting, life for 
every man and woman of us has been changed in all its major 
aspects and fallen into disorder. All the peaceful routine of 
our thoughts and habits has been upset. Our sons and neigh- 
bors are on their way to the hideous and heroic and bloody 
work abroad to which they have been summoned. * * * 

But disquieting as are the times, the business of the stock 
raiser in America, and particularly in Florida, was never on 
so sound a basis as today, never so full of promise. The ex- 
haustion of domestic animals throughout Europe and the in- 
creasing shortage in our own country are creating a demand 
which will insure for many years to come a profitable market 
for all the beef, pork, mutton and dairy products which we can 
supply. 

Definitely, I think it can be said that there can be no dan- 
ger of overproduction in these lines for a long time to come. 
And for this industry, which we may perhaps properly call 
the most ancient, fundamental, necessary, stable, wholesome, 
honorable and delightful of all the occupations in which men 
are engaged, Florida has advantages of soil, climate, rainfall 
and location greater, on the whole, than those enjoyed by any 
other state of the American union. This is being recognized 
in increasing measure, far and wide. The eyes of discerning 
and experienced men are being turned this way as never be- 
fore. Inquiries by mail and visits of exploration from the 
North, the West and the Southwest have never before been so 
numerous as during the year which we are reviewing, and our 
own people are awakening to the opportunities which lie all 
about them, unused and inviting. 

There are vast areas of cheap and hitherto waste lands in 
every part of the State, lying open the year round to the genial 
and fructifying rays of a semi-tropical and sub-tropical sun, 
which need only the expenditure upon them of money and 
labor to fit them for the support of herds and flocks greater 
than any other region can maintain. We have every reason, as 
we face the new year, to take courage and to gird ourselves for 
the task of turning into reality these gracious possibilities 
which nature has spread about us with a lavish hand. 

The past year has been signalized by one great achieve- 
ment, carrying two others in its train. The great achievement 

—31— 



to which I refer, the greatest by all odds ever accomplished 
in this State, is the creation by the Legislature of a State Live 
Stock Sanitary Board and the appropriation of public monies 
for the carrying on of its work; and the two consequent 
achievements are the beginning of definite, determined, state- 
wide, co-operative and adequately supported efforts to eradi- 
cate the pestilent cattle tick from all our borders and to control 
hog cholera. * * * 

And I venture now to say — and I say it with pardonable 
pride and great pleasure — ^that no state in the Union has a 
more carefully considered, better balanced and guarded, and 
more rigid and effective law, covering the matter of live stock 
sanitation, than has Florida. Perhaps a detail here and there 
needs to be amended and strengthened, but, on the whole, the 
measure was a good one and is working well. * * * 

I may add, finally, that the State Live Stock Sanitary 
Board, in the two great undertakings to which, for the present 
and the immediate future, it will, of necessity, chiefly devote 
its energies, the eradication of the cattle tick and the control 
of hog cholera, we are leaning heavily on two co-operative 
agencies. The first of these is the Federal Government, 
through its Bureau of Animal Industry, and the States Rela- 
tions Service. 

In Dr. E. M. Nighbert, inspector in charge of the work of 
tick eradication ; Dr. A. H. Logan, inspector in charge for hog 
cholera control ; Dean P. H. Rolfs of the University, director of 
the Experiment Station, in charge of the work in Florida of 
the States Relations Service, and the numerous assistants 
placed by the Federal Government, under the direction of these 
three gentlemen, we have a large body of capable, trained and 
energetic experts, whose co-operation with our Board is of 
inestimable value to the State, and whose maintenance costs 
us nothing. 

The members of the State Live Stock Sanitary Board serve 
without remuneration, so that we have in Florida approxi- 
mately thirty men who are engaged in promoting the work 
of live stock sanitation without expense to the taxpayers of the 
State. It is fitting, I think, that this Association should be 
reminded of this very great and very costly, but nevertheless 
wholly gratuitous, service which is being rendered to the inter- 
ests which we represent. * * * 

So much for the past year ; now for a glance forward. 

What I have just been saying indicates clearly the special 
work to which we ought, in my judgment, to devote ourselves 
in the immediate future — I mean the complete and final eradi- 
cation of the tick in every county in Florida and the largest 
possible measure of control of hog cholera. If we see clearly, 
we see that these tasks are preliminary to all others. * * ♦ 

Fortunately the tick is a very weak and vulnerable enemy, 
though so mischievous. Put all the cattle of Florida through 

—32— 



the dipping vat once a fortnight for five or six months, and 
there would be no more ticks left in this State than there are 
snakes in Ireland. Let us consecrate ourselves here in this 
meeting to the doing of this think, and doing it soon. 

Hog cholera is not so simple and manageable an affair. 
In the micro-organism which causes this disease, we face an 
enemy far subtler, more cunning, more elusive, more persist- 
ent and more swiftly fatal than is the tick. It escapes observa- 
tion by the most powerful microscope ; it laughs at quarantine 
lines ; it flows in the stream ; it lurks in the pool ; it rides upon 
the foot of beast and bird, the shoe of man, the wagon's wheel ; 
it soars aloft on the buzzard's wing; you can not catch and 
dip it. 

I earnestly advise the formation of local live stock associa- 
tions throughout the State, at least one in each county affiliated 
with the State Association, and having special committees on 
Tick Eradication and Hog Cholera Control, composed of the 
ablest, the most energetic and the most influential men in the 
various communities. Let these associations hold meetings 
at regular intervals for the free exchange of views and experi- 
ences ; let expert and interesting speakers from abroad bring 
to these meetings fresh information and impetus; let there 
be added such social and entertaining features as may be 
available — music, barbecues, moving pictures, boat excursions, 
what-not — ^to attract the multitude, relieve the monotony of 
farm life, and increase neighborliness and good community 
feeling. Let the co-operation of the banks of the region be se- 
cured, for the generous financing of pig clubs and com clubs. 
* * « 

There is one other matter of prime importance to which 
I invite your attention. If the live stock industry of Florida is 
to be put on the most stable basis and developed with reason- 
able rapidity, immense sums of money will be required. Fences 
must be built; drainage canals and ditches must be dug; im- 
proved and more nourishing grasses must be introduced over 
vast areas; other great areas must be planted with forage 
crops ; silos must be built ; plows, harrows and other expensive 
implements must be purchased; horses, mules and tractors, 
herdsmen, farmers and laborers must be secured and put to 
work in great numbers ; a multitude of pure-bred bulls and 
cows, boars and sows, rams and ewes, stallions, jacks and 
mares must be imported for the improvement of our native 
stock. 

Where are the necessary funds coming from for the 
financing of those enterprises? Perhaps the large ranch own- 
ers can take care of themselves, but what our State needs above 
all things else is thrifty farmers by the thousand, now on the 
ground or drawn from other states by our surpassing advan- 
tages of soil and climate; where shall these secure the funds 
necessary for the development of their more modest holdings? 

—33— 



Florida is a relatively new and scantily populated State; 
there are here no great reserves of cash and securities, accu- 
mulated and bequeathed by generations of toiling and thrifty 
ancestors, as in some parts of the country. Many of the banks 
are doing their best to care for our live stock interests, but the 
ability of our local banks — and I speak now as a banker — is 
strictly limited in this direction. 

What we need in Florida, in my judgment, as the very 
next step to be taken, is one or more strong cattle loan com- 
panies, such as flourish in the West, whose sole business it will 
be to provide the funds necessary for the developments which 
I have mentioned, so far as cattle are concerned. This is a mat- 
ter which will occupy us during one entire session of this meet- 
ing, and I need not, therefore, deal with it further now, except 
to say that the present time seems especially propitious for the 
securing of such funds as we need for this business. 

Men are asking how they may make safe investment of 
their savings in these troubled times ; the future of the rail- 
ways, now under Government control, is uncertain ; industrial 
enterprises have been largely thrown into abnormal condi- 
tion by the war; stocks, bonds and other similar securities 
liave in them today a considerable speculative element which 
gives pause to conservative investors. But amid all this flux 
and uncertainty, here lies the land, as from of old, unchanging, 
peaceful, fruitful, a mother's full breast, and upon the land 
feed and grow, enriching and renewing it forever even as they 
feed upon it, the friendly animals, whose flesh and milk support 
our life from the cradle to the grave. 

There is nothing speculative here, and I am confident that 
investors, perplexed now by the unheard of aspect of the 
world's affairs, will be disposed to put their funds more and 
more into the soil and its products, if they are shown the way ; 
and the cattle-loan company, organized and administered by 
experienced and careful men, can show them the way and lead 
them safely in it. 

And now, gentlemen, we will proceed to the program our 
Executive Committee has provided. I hope that our meeting 
together, the messages which will be brought us from abroad, 
and the various discussions in which we ourselves shall engage, 
will serve to hearten us for our work and help us to feel, amid 
the toil and perplexities of our daily task, that in providing 
a more copious supply of food for the world, in causing two 
blades of grass to grow where one grew before, and in trans- 
forming these blades of grass by the mysterious and wonderful 
processes of nature into the thoughts and loves of men and 
women, the orator's speech, the poet's song, the statesman's 
wisdom, the soldier's fierce energy, the mother's brooding care, 
and the babe's new life, we are doing our part to support and 
render more rich and worthy this wondrous human drama and 
are partners with God in the work of his earthly kingdom. 

—34— 



FLORIDA SUITED TO EXTENSIVE CATTLE RAISING. 



Texas Ranchmen Declare Conditions Ideal for Cattle, Sheep 

and Goats. 

The impression made upon a prominent Texas ranch 
owner who recently visited the great cattle ranges of Florida 
was that Nature has been too good to the cattle industry in 
this State to encourage improvement in the crude methods 
of breeding and handling stock which have been in vogue for 
years, for the cattle owners have made money without trying. 

Among those who spent a week during the latter part 
of August inspecting range conditions were M. Sansom of 
Fort Worth, president of the Cassidy-Southwestern Commis- 
sion Co., director of the Federal Reserve Bank and owner of 
large cattle ranch interests. * * * 

Mr. Sansom expressed his impression of Florida's oppor- 
unity for raising cattle in these words: 

"The only trouble you have in Florida, Nature has been 
too good to you. If it had done half as much for Texas the 
Government officials would not now be worrying about the 
future meat supply for the United States and our Allies. I 
have seen Texas when the cattle were no better than the 
grade I have seen on this trip. We started twenty-five years 
ago to improve our herds and stayed with it, until today we 
furnish some of the best breeding and feeding cattle for the 
Northern States. 

"Florida now has very great advantage over pioneer 
Texas, as you can get some of our good breeding stock and 
make rapid progress breeding up your herds. The Osceola 
Cattle Co., in Osceola County, has started along right lines, 
and the manager gave me some figures on calf production 
which show that his herd are producing a larger percentage 
of calves than we get in Texas. 

"But your luxuriant range grasses and abundance of 
stock water are almost unbelievable. Your range will carry 
from three to ten times as many cattle per section as the 
Texas land in a normal year. And when I say normal year 
I want you to remember that sometimes the rain clouds forget 
all about Texas for months at a time, and then our ranges 
suffer from drought, as large sections of them are doing at 
this time. 

"You have a sheep country as good as exists, and a goat 
country better than any other. It is too bad that you do not 
raise more sheep on your ranges, for they do not hurt the 
cattle pastures, eatmg only the tender blades down under the 
more mature grass. We run thousands of sheep on our cattle 
ranges in Texas. The goats will be a distinct benefit to the 
Florida ranges, as they do not eat much grass when they can 
get underbrush, briars and weeds. By having those cleaned 

—35— 



out of the pastures the grass will have a better chance to 
grow. 

"I am informed that Florida does not have to combat 
coyotes, which are our worst sheep enemies, so you really 
have no serious losses to anticipate on your sheep investments. 
And yet there are very few sheep on the ranges we have 
visited. It is to be hoped that your cattlemen will use more 
sheep on the ranges. 

"The range country should become the calf incubator for 
the Southeastern States, the offspring being sold at weaning 
time or as yearlings. That will give your ranges a larger 
carrying capacity for breeding stock and let the grain-pro- 
ducing sections do the finishing. — From the Manufacturers* 
Record, Sept. 13, 1917. 



—36— 



CATTLE RAISING IN FLORIDA. 



As I Saw it on a Thousand-mile Tour of the Central Part of 

the State. 

By A. C. Williams. 

Wasn't it Saul who went out in search of asses and found 
a kingdom? You men who are familiar with the Bible can 
answer that. But I can testify that I, while not in search 
of asses, duplicated Saul's experience during the past month, 
when, in company with M. Sansom, W. N. Waddell, Caesar 
Kleberg and Tom T. East of Texas, Dr. L. J. Allen of Okla- 
homa, Geo. M. RommeL of Washington, P. L. Sutherland, C. L. 
Gaines and J. G. Boyd of Florida, I had the pleasure of a 
thousand-mile trip through the central part of the State of 
Florida. 

Nature has been very kind to Florida, providing delight- 
ful climate, fertile lands and adequate rainfall for farming 
purposes ; broad prairies, carpeted with succulent grasses and 
watered by running streams for live stock raising; timber 
galore for sawmills, and countless beauty spots beckoning 
to tourists. But the citizens of that State have been slow 
to take advantage of their opportunities. Agriculture in 
many sections has been a neglected art. Practically all of 
the foodstuffs, including grain, meat, butter and eggs, have 
been produced outside the State. Colonization companies have 
devoted their energies to boosting orange orchards and truck 
gardens (the "poker game of agriculture"), and little organ- 
ized effort has been made to attract farmers and stockmen 
of tireless energy — the backbone of any community. 

Among the neglected industries, none stand out more 
conspicuously than stock raising. The native cattle, inbred, 
stunted specimens of doubtful origin, have been turned loose 
on the free, open range to rustle for themselves, and little 
effort has been made in most sections toward breed improve- 
ment. Due to the mild climate, good range, adequate water 
supply and absence of screw worms, coyotes and other pests, 
they have survived. And with open range and no expense 
they have been very profitable. In our entire trip we saw 
only two or three flocks of sheep and goats. They were of 
better quality than I had expected — fairly good for mutton, 
but light on wool. 

A new era is dawning for the cattle business of Florida. 
The war has forced a reduction in the exports of turpentine 
and rosin, and the large land owners are turning their atten- 
tion to improved stock raising. A packing house has been 
erected at Jacksonville. Systematic tick eradication is being 
carried on. Large tracts of land have been fenced and stocked. 
Hundreds of well-bred Texas cows and registered Hereford, 
Angus, Shorthorn and Brahma bulls are being purchased, 

—37— 



and the work of breed improvement is growing in popularity. 

Good feed and forage crops can be grown in most sec- 
tions, and with this new movement for improved live stock 
will come deeper interest in agriculture. The chief forage 
crops now produced in that State are com, velvet beans, Jap- 
anese cane, sorghum, cow peas and beggar-weed. The first 
three perhaps take the lead. The corn and velvet beans are 
planted together, in rows from four to six feet apart. The 
beans grow very rank, producing an abundance of good hay, 
and beans which are high in feeding value. The beans may 
be left on the vines for pasturage, or gathered and ground 
into bean meal, which is excellent for cattle feeding. Jap- 
anese cane resembles our Texas ribbon cane. It makes good 
silage, keeps well and is highly relished by cattle. The Florida 
beggar-weed grows as a volunteer in old fields of a light sandy 
soil. If cut at the right time it makes good hay, and, while 
it is rather bulky for silage alone, it is said to add greatly to 
the fattening value of silage. Corn and cow peas need no 
introduction to our readers. 

The most common grasses are several varieties of pas- 
palum or carpet grass, switch grass, wire grass, little blue 
maiden cane and Bermuda. Crab and Natal grass are volun- 
teers which follow crops on sandy soils. Both Guinea and 
Para grasses thrive in South Florida, where less liable to 
injury by frost. Fort Thompson grass, which resembles 
giant Bermuda, with larger joint, stem and leaf, is a native 
of Florida, which will some day be recognized as one of their 
very best pasture grasses. 

With their open range and native cattle — a poorer grade 
than our old-time longhorn — the cattle business of Florida 
today may be compared to that of Texas twenty years ago. 
What they need is more bulls and experienced cattlemen who 
will apply the intelligence, energy and persistence that know 
not failure. 

Leaving Kenansville at 8:15, we were soon out on the 
Kissimmee prairie of thousands and thousands of acres of 
open range. Here, where the grass was very luxuriant, resem- 
bling a hay meadow, we saw several hundred more of the 
small native cattle, followed by the common scrubby bulls. 
The fat four-year-old steers weighed around 550 pounds, and 
are valued at $30 per head. The cows weighed around 500 
pounds. The range herds of mixed ages and classes are valued 
at $20 per head. We soon left the public highway, circling 
marshes and dodging palmettos. Our next stop was on Gum 
Slough Ranch, where we were told that on a pasture of 10,000 
acres there were 6,000 cattle. The ground was well covered 
with carpet and a variety of other grasses, and did not show 
the effects of close grazing. The cattle were in good condition 
and of better quality than most of the others which we had 
inspected. — From The Cattleman, September, 1917. 

—38— 



FLORIDA IS FAR AHEAD OF TEXAS IN ADVANTAGES 
IN RAISING CATTLE. 



There Is No Comparison, Declares Expert from That State. 
Camiot See How Any Cattleman Can Fail in This State. 

"Florida is so far ahead of Texas in advantages for rais- 
ing cattle that there is no comparison," was the statement of 
Caesar Kleburg, from Kingsville, Texas, after spending last 
week going over the ranges in Florida. 

Mr. Kleburg is recognized as an authority on cattle rais- 
ing, being one of the managers of the King ranch, the largest 
fenced cattle ranch in America, if not in the world, covering 
1,700,000 acres. Approximately 100,000 cattle are maintained 
on the ranch. 

Continuing, Mr. Kleburg said: "When I see what you 
have in the way of luxuriant grasses, abundant rainfall and 
ideal climate, I cannot understand how any cattleman can 
fail here. We have some grasses, an average climate and 
sometimes get water. 

"We started breeding up Texas cattle twenty-five years 
ago with very little, if any, better quality cows than I saw 
on your ranges. We bought $60,000 worth of pure-bred Dur- 
ham bulls at one time in Kentucky and scattered them through 
our best herds. At that time vve did not know as much about 
cattle fever tick as we do now, and one by one our fine animals 
died. We were successful in getting a partial crop of calves 
by them, but the offspring were so much better than anything 
which had ever been seen on the Texas ranges that the cow- 
boys in charge of the herds killed most of them to eat. How- 
ever, we stuck to our purpose, and are proud of our success 
today. * * * 

"You may have to feed velvet beans or other concen- 
trates to the Durhams during the season of dormant vegeta- 
tion, but it will be worth while. There does not seem to 
be any trouble raising large quantities of the beans here, 
judging from what we have seen. 

"You have a good proposition in this State, and cannot 
get away from it, for God gave it to you." — From the Florida 
Times-Union, Sept. 6, 1917. 



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